This invention relates to meat hooks, and more particularly to a meat hook for use in handling slabs of meat in slaughter houses, meat packing plants and the like.
One type of meat hook now in use includes a handle and a hook portion. The hook portion includes a curved, elongated solid metal cylinder having a straight rod section connected to the handle at one end and a curved section forming a hook with a pointed end extending from the other end of the rod. The rod extends from the midpoint of an elongated handle and the meat hook is held with the rod extending between the first and second fingers or the second and third fingers when the handle is gripped by a user. The curved end section of the hook portion extends out of the plane of the handle. The weight of the meat on the hook portion is at least in part carried by the rod against one or the other of the straddling fingers as the user grips the handle. Many users switch back and forth between the two positions to relieve the pain and trauma to the fingers straddling the elongated metal cylinder.
This type of meat hook has a disadvantage in that the rod extending between the fingers, the disposition of the meat piercing end of the hook and the angle of the wrist from the disposition of the hook portion with respect to the handle may result in injuries such as "tendinitis" from continuous use of the meat hook.
Another type of meat hook known to the art has an elongated handle that receives a U-shaped elongated solid metal cylinder joined to each end of the handle and a curved elongated solid cylinder forming a hook with a pointed end. The hook portion is centrally disposed with respect to the handle and perpendicular to its main axis and extends from the U-shaped elongated cylinder.
This type of hook has a disadvantage in that the U-shaped, elongated, solid metal cylinder and a curved, elongated, solid cylinder forming a hook with a pointed end cannot be formed from a single elongated, solid metal cylinder, which complicates the design and increases the cost and weight of the meat hook.